Hello, I am forwarding along
an important action alert on the JFC[base ']s raid of the habitat management programs
that are funded by the license stamps.
I know that many of you are
very interested in many of the habitat management programs that are funded by
dedicated license stamps...If so, please read further:
You may well all have heard
that Wednesday night at the Joint Finance Committee meeting, the Committee
adopted a hunting and fishing license fee package. It was generally OK except
for one major item.
The Committee diverted $1.35
million dollars from the waterfowl stamp, Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp and
turkey stamp accounts to fill the hole in the Fish and Wildlife Account. By law,
these stamp funds are to be used for habitat improvement and for stocking. This
is the first time that funds from the stamp account have ever been diverted and
it is a terrible precedent for future state budgets. Because there were no
balances in the Inland trout stamp and the Pheasant Stamp account, there were no
diversions from those accounts. There is no doubt that if there were money in
those two accounts, that money would also have been taken.
The money lost from the
Great Lakes Account was $720,800, the Waterfowl Account was $411,700 and the
Turkey Account was $222,600.
This situation can be turned
around if sportsmen and women make a few phone calls. BUT IT IS CRITICAL THAT
THIS HAPPEN IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. Don't hesitate to leave a message with
their aide or on their answer machine. Legislators take those into
consideration.
The four key people to call
are:
Senator Scott Fitzgerald
(608-266-5660);
Senator Rob Cowles (608)
266-2056,
Rep. Dean Kaufert(608)
266-5719
Rep. Dan Meyer (608)
266-7141.
See the press release put
out jointly by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, the Wisconsin Waterfowl
Association and the Wisconsin Federation of Great Lakes Sports Fishing Clubs for
additional background information (http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/Apr05/Apr27/0427wildlifehuntfish.PDF).
YOUR MESSAGE DOES NOT HAVE
TO BE DETAILED OR COMPLICATED. Tell them that you are a hunter or angler or both
and that you want the stamp money put pack into its proper account for habitat
or stocking purposes; that is what you were promised and that is where it should
be.
It is critical that you make
the calls this week to keep the pressure on these people. Also if you can
spread this same word with your organizations[sigma]
Thank you!
Anne N. Sayers
Program Director
WI League of Conservation Voters and
WLCV-Institute
www.conservationvoters.org, www.conservationvotersinstitute.org
(608) 661-0845
306 E. Wilson St., #2E
Madison, WI 53703
